The Love Song of S Holmes
by Phuchka
Summary: This is a fantasy turned into a fanfiction. Sherlock Holmes, high functioning but not so sociopathic student shares a flat, makes a friend and falls in love. With an Original Female Character. Psst! She could be me...or you!
1. Chapter 1: Beautiful Stranger

Minta had reached late. As usual. The allocations had been done and most of the new students had already settled into their rooms. She wasn't unduly worried because she was quite sure she would find a place to stay. She was like that – she somewhat complacently believed that things would always work out fine. So far they had hadn't they? Touchwood!

Here she was at the prestigious Ivy League university where she had dreamed of studying for her Masters in Literature. That dream was about to come true. Searching for a room was a minor hassle compared to the glorious high of walking down the grassy knolls and into hallowed portals of the Uni. She was almost smiling.

An hour later the smile was most certainly not there. In its stead was a frown. The luggage was weighing her down, she was exhausted from her long journey and there were no available rooms in sight. And classes began tomorrow! The dorm rooms had been the first to go as they were closest to the campus. The other students relied on flat shares which were organized by the Uni Admin or arranged accommodation themselves. Arranging accommodation without the Uni Admin was a much more difficult proposition being both expensive or at a distance.

Minta had not realized what a fight it would be to get the Uni flat shares. And most people had arrived earlier, done their research and booked the apartments. Minta cursed herself for being stupid enough to think that anything at Uni would be easy. After much pleading she got the addresses of 3 apartments from the frazzled Admin officer and 2 of those were filled by the time she got to them. Beginning to feel a sense of real panic now, she made her way to the last address on her list. It was getting dark and she did not have the time or money to search for an apartment herself.

The apartment was some distance away so she understood why it might not be much preferred. When she finally reached the small 2 storey house she discovered that there were already some students living there. The girl who held the door open told her that she and her partner stayed in the ground floor flat along with another couple and that a new student had just moved into the room upstairs. Minta could share the upstairs flat with the fresher if she was interested. At this point, Minta would have accepted a place in an igloo. She lugged her stuff upstairs and went to meet her prospective flatmate.

As the door opened, Minta realized she had been so busy searching for a place, she had forgotten to think about what kind of flatmate she would get. She was generally a pretty accommodating person, but the person looking back at her was…a boy. He was tall and lean with skin like alabaster, glacial blue eyes and high cheekbones framed by soft black curls. He looked…ethereal.

For a minute, it appeared that they both didn't know what to say – then she began explaining her predicament, speaking quickly to ignore her initial confusion. "My name is Sherlock", he said – his voice a deep mellifluous baritone with an elegant British accent. "Sherlock Holmes. And you are of course welcome to share the flat, such as it is. I do need someone to split the rent."

"I'm Minta McNair. I..I didn't know that…I probably won't stay here for long…just till I find another place. I mean not that it's not nice…its just…", she said a bit incoherently trying to gather her thoughts. She really needed a place tonight and she could stay with this…guy…for a bit till she found another one.

Mum and Dad need never know about this she thought. And he probably wasn't a psycho. Right?


	2. Chapter 2 : Strangers in the Night

Sherlock had the ability to maintain a poker face when required. Which was why he was fairly certain he had been able to conceal his astonishment on seeing Minta. It wasn't everyday that beautiful girls knocked on his door and asked to share his room. She was gorgeous and he was unprepared for the onslaught. He had been tuning his violin lost in a fugue wondering a little pensively about how he would get along at the Uni.

Not that he was worried about the academics – he was fairly sure about his abilities and passionate about his chosen subject (mathematics) to look forward to it. He was a little concerned about how he would 'put up' with all the new people that would be thrust his way. New people unsettled him, then they bored him. His far superior intellect quickly saw through their daily pretenses and while he understood the necessity for social niceties, he quite often found it intolerable.

And so here he was in a flat as far from the campus as he could find, tuning his violin and wondering about how he would cope with a necessary flatmate. Minta was the only one who showed up. She had thick glossy chestnut hair parted down the middle framing a face that looked confident yet strangely vulnerable. Her big brown eyes looked anxiously at him and a smile lingered on her full lips. Her skin was a warm rosy hue as if she had spent her holidays in the sun and what he could see of the rest of her suggested that she would be a knockout in a bikini. He liked a woman with curves. Sherlock approved.

Wait…what?! His thoughts screeched to a halt. Was he seriously checking out this girl as if she were here to throw herself at him? That was a laugh – girls were not really his area. Especially girls as lovely as this one was. She was probably boring, he consoled himself but something wistful in him hoped not. He banished his fantasies to a small corner of his enormous mind and focused on the task at hand. He picked up her luggage and tried to reassure her and praise the virtues of the flat at the same time. She looked like she might turn around and run away should he give her the slightest chance and he really needed her to stay. For splitting the rent of course.

There were two small (separate!) bedrooms, a common living area and a bathroom on the upper floor. The whole place had a cosy feel which appealed to Minta and reminded her of home. She sat on the bed and felt a sudden burst of energy – new place to call home, new friends, it would all be okay. As for the strange boy who was going to be her flatmate, for the week at least…

'Hi, so…do you know a good place to eat nearby or something? I'm starving', she asked Sherlock.

'Italian place. Angelo's. 5minutes walk from here. I can show you if you want – I haven't had anything to eat either,' he said wrapping his scarf round his neck and pulling on an impressive looking greatcoat without waiting for her to answer.

'Oh, okay…lovely', she nodded and they were off before she had a chance to fully process the fact that she was now apparently going out for dinner with a (relative) stranger (who she was also sharing a flat with). He didn't speak as they walked down, him at a fast clip, she trying to keep up but somehow a step behind always. She was too cold to attempt conversation anyway.

Angelo's was warm and welcoming. Minta had a heady impression of fresh bread smells, glasses clinking and candlelit tables as they entered the place. They were ushered to a table by the window by a loud Italian waiter. He passed them the menus and said to Sherlock, 'I'll get you a candle for the table. More romantic for your date, ' Minta immediately said, 'I'm not his date' but neither Sherlock nor the waiter seemed to hear or care. Her flatmate still didn't seem inclined to talk, looking around at the other patrons or out of the window and giving a tiny smile when she caught his eye. She gave an inward sigh and dove in. 'So what subject are you majoring in?'

By the end of the hour, she knew that he was probably not a psycho. Brilliant mathematician was more like it. His Work, as he termed it, was the only thing he really seemed to care about, his light eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. Probably from a well to do family even though he did not speak much about them and made a few barbs about his elder brother who was some big shot in the government. Despite his self-assured behaviour earlier and his obvious intellect, he seemed strangely shy and awkward which she found a bit endearing. She steered much of the conversation as he seemed at a bit of a loss about what to say to her. Soon he had relaxed enough to crack a joke or two.

A large woman wearing a pink sequined dress and a shocking pink feather boa sailed portentously into the restaurant. The contrast between her ridiculous attire and her remarkable hauteur was incongruous in the extreme enough to attract the attention of most of the patrons. "Definitely the Queen of Flaminga", Minta muttered with a suppressed smile. Noticing Sherlock's questioning gaze, she blushed a little and explained, "It's just this silly game I play. I make up stories about strangers." "Hmm…interesting", he said. "Quite an imaginative way to pass the time and one befitting a Literature major." He looked around him and then nodded towards a big man wearing a pink shirt and what looked like a fair quantity of gold about his person. He was sitting at the bar and looked rather intent on getting smashed. Sherlock said, "And oh look, there's the Duke of Dashing. He's secretly in love with the Queen you know but only pines for her from afar." Minta chuckled and added just as the Pink Lady and the Pink Gentleman caught each other's eye, "The Queen loves him too you know. She's just waiting for him to declare his intentions." Sherlock grinned and spent the rest of the meal deducing the life stories of the other patrons in Angelo's and gave them such colourful pasts that Minta was soon in splits.

When they moved out of the restaurant after a good meal of pasta and red wine, they walked back in companionable silence, this time in step with each other. She turned to look at him at the same time that he looked at her and they broke into a grin. Not bad, they each thought.


End file.
